Eternal Phantasm
by A. G. Moria
Summary: A young, royal albino bat taken away from her homeland and her family. A new land filled with mystery and fear awaits her. Not to mention the new creatures that wait for her to come into their lives as a friend or a meal.
1. Forever Dying

**I'll only say this for this one chapter and this one chapter alone: I do not own anything having to do with Silverwing and I never have.**

**Now onto the story without any more delays.**

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Why…?

No… I just want to know why.

What have I done to deserve this…?

Not just this but everything.

I mean I've been taken away from all that I've known my whole life and unable to get back to my old life.

When I begin to think back to anything that I could have done to be taken away from my only family, the comforting caverns I knew belonged to my family for generations, and the only protection ever given to me, I find nothing that I could have done wrong to lose those things.

I was just a simple albino bat that just happened to belong to the royal family of a thousand bat colony, but no one really knew I existed even though I was the only heir. So no one could've caused me to be where I am now.

No… It was those things. It's their fault.

What are they called?

Humans…?

Humans?

Humans!

They did this to me when I had done nothing to them throughout my entire life! I hadn't even seen a human once before in my life before they came and took me away from my father, my only family! Why would they do such a thing to me!?

I don't know… but all I do know is that right now I am lost, afraid and I have lost my voice to cry out my sobs.

That is all true since I'm all alone, in a hollowed out tree in some godforsaken forest I have never seen before or have even been to for that matter. I am slowly starving to death, slowly freezing to death even though the land seems tropical, and yearning for someone of my colony to come to me and take me back home. Better yet, I just hope my father comes flying right towards this tree I'm in, finds me and then tells me everything's going to be alright.

Heh, what a cruel thing to pull over on myself.

I know I'm hundreds of miles away from my home and I won't doubt that, but I still have to hold something within my heart to keep my sanity.

I just won't give into the nightmares that keep me in constant fear of the land outside this tree. However, if I don't overcome this fear that's trying to take over my whole mind and I shall die since I must have to eat sometime. Unfortunately for me this isn't a world I control like the one I used to live in where I had some control.

However, I need a sign soon. I don't want this life in this forest to be my conclusion to my story. Dammit, I really just need a sign.

The cold light calls my name softly, but I hold onto the reality of the earthly world that I don't wish to leave just yet. It keeps calling my name though and I can't ignore it for long. When I look towards the opening of the tree, I see the light becoming darker.

Without moving, I know it's a predator or some other animal coming my way and most likely hungry for my flesh.

Leaning my head back, I let loose a cry of pity upon myself and the last thing I know is that I am slowly starting to think back my old life. My stomach was never even half empty and my fur was always kept warm. I was always by my father's side as he taught me about many things that I would come to know and use throughout my life. Even though I got snapped at a couple of times and was shooed away when the elders were busy with discussing things with my father, I just kept reminding myself that I'd rather be scolded by them instead of dying right now.

Yes, everything was right with the world when I was at home with my father and our colony, and now I wish for nothing else but to be back there with them.

Still, I am not with them right now. I am where I am and I must accept my fate in this forest. If I am to die then that is what must happen.

The darkness now covers me and I don't even struggle when I let myself fall into its warm embrace.

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**Heh, don't worry the other chapters are a lot longer then this one. This one just needed to be somewhat of a prologue and it did its job rather nicely if I do say so myself.**

**With all of that said and done, until the next chapter is posted up, I bid you readers/reviews a short farewell at for the time being.**


	2. Midnight Birth

**Continuation from the last chapter into the second chapter of this here story…**

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**A few months earlier…**

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_Dusk fell onto the land as the sun set behind the mountains and hid itself from the world. Multiple creatures began to crawl back to their lairs as many more started to appear from their own homes and welcome the nighttime. _

_Bats were one of the few creatures that awoke at night and each one smirked to his or herself as the full moon took its place it the center of the starry sky. It was a night that made anyone glad to hunt. All but the leader and his colony that is._

_Tonight a colony of thousands stayed around their gigantic skull-like cave and mourned the passing of one of their great leaders. They all mourned the passing of their queen._

_At the time being their leader, Memento Mori, had no time to shed any tears since he held within his arms the last thing his mate had ever given to him. Mori was larger than any bat in the entire colony and a pure albino bat to add to that, so none spoke a word when he hadn't begun to cry at his mate's death. _

_It was just that first he felt as if he could rule the whole world and now he felt like crawling into the corner and crying in utter pain. Although, if anything he was just occupied with the new life before him._

_Not before long Hogs, the supreme healing bat, flew into the giant cavern room and glanced up at his king with slight concern as the object within Memento's arms kept crying and squeaking for its mother. He knew that his king had no way of feeding a baby like a female and knew that it would die soon if not fed by another female._

"_My lord," Hogs said. "It is known that within our colony we never take up another mate but one, but what about your daughter? We have multiple females for you to choose from. A milk giver for your daughter is what is required at the time being, and you might not want to postpone her feeding for too long"._

_Seconds of pure silence passed by between the two male bats before Memento sighed and said, "Bring one of them here and so they can assist me with her. A different one each time so that my daughter doesn't think that another female is her mother"._

"_Of course, sire". The smaller bat groveled. "But there is still the issue of your daughter to discuss-"_

_A quick glare was shot at the healing bat and he squeaked even higher as he panicked and flew back into the main caverns of the cave. Then Memento glanced down upon his daughter and tried to soothe his little girl as her squeaks became more frequent and high pitched._

"_This just goes to show that once life reaches the peak of perfection everything has to end suddenly and it all goes to utter hell". Memento growled at himself. "One's hopes should stay simple and their expectations to the lowest degree possible, but that's what I get when I lowered my guard and thought everything would turn out as planned"._

_He looked down at his daughter and held her closer to his broad chest. "Cama Zots be with my young child and I as our years increase and eventually our family increase to the point it was at once"._

_Memento thought back to when his forefathers ruled over the land he now ruled over, there were once even whole family trees of the royal family. However, he knew that humans wiped them out to the point that it was only he and his mate left. _

"_Now only you and I are alive, little one". He softly whispered into her ear. "Let's simply hope that you will turn out to be as beautiful as your mother, her grey, swirled fur, ember eyes and definitely her soft, soothing voice. Heh, you don't need an old, screechy voice like my own, young one"._

_Slowly the little bat shifted around in her father's wings as he began to climb to his roost or now their roost since he now shared it with his little girl. _

_Once comfortable enough for being upside-down, Memento wrapped his wings around himself and brought his daughter close to his heart so that it might help her get to sleep faster. She let loose a few squeaks here and then but soon enough she fell victim to sweet slumber. _

_For the longest of whiles, her father watched her until he was certain that she was still alive and breathing, and he watched as for the fact he knew how many young died half of the time during their first hour of life._

_Memento let go a slight sigh and leaned down towards his little newborn. "Good day," He crooned silently. "May you have a sweet first dream, Kage Mori"._

_He leaned back as he felt his own dreams and nightmares calling to him in the darkest reaches of his mind. The sweetest of memories would visit him to have him remember his dead mate, but then they would vanish as the nightmares of the future came to haunt him and bring him nothing but pure and utter pain. Alas, this is what happens to those who's destiny is tied within several knots after several knots._

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**Till the next chapter of this here story, I bid all of you readers/reviews a slight farewell. **

**And fret not as for the fact more will come soon enough.**

**Until the next chapter we both read then.**


	3. Destiny of Dawn Begins

**Continuation from the last chapter of this here story into the third chapter of this here story…**

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Two moons had passed from that mournful night but none had forgotten the death of their queen in the least bit. However, very few members of the colony had gotten to learn that the heir of their kingdom had survived and was living. That limited Kage's interactions with her colony by tenfold but she made due with her father most of the time.

Memento Mori, her father, constantly kept watch over his young child and rarely let her out of his sight. He watched as his little one grew to be unlike her mother in almost every way, which this upset him but he didn't let it show. If anything he was just upset that Kage ended up looking almost exactly like him, the pure white fur, dead cold eyes and a slightly high voice but this last one was mainly because she was female.

At the time being, the two royals roosted away from the rest of their colony as they normally did and waited for sundown.

It was not a law in this part of the land that owls ruled over everyone and that bats were banished to the darkness. However, these bats throughout this whole colony knew two very good reasons why to wait for sundown.

Number one reason was it was better to hunt at night then in the daytime. Sometimes sunlight blinded these winged mammals as they tried to hunt or some bats even passed out due to the heat of the sunny rays.

The second reason was known quite well amongst the elders of the colony and was just a rumor to everyone else, but this was barely even heard of amongst the newborns. Humans. Humans were the prime reason and example as to why these bats waited until sundown. It was said that many of those nearly hairless animals went to their "caves" during the nighttime and that gave some relief for the bats.

Banding was not rare for the colony and they lost a few of their people to these humans' banding each and every year. Be that as it may, no one had seen a human around the colony's land in quite a few moons.

In the meantime it was about an hour before nighttime, however, the youngest of the royals woke up too early for any common bat that was in their right mind to wake at and wanted to have her father awake as well.

Little inch by little inch, Kage gently crawled her way up to her superior's ears only to whine into them, "Father please awaken! I'm bored, hungry and I want down now! You know I can't fly down without being carried down! Please wake up"!

Slowly her elder woke up and groaned as he knew he had to wake up now. Wordlessly, he climbed down from their roost with his daughter still in his arms and gently started to lick her face a few times. Once clean enough, he set her down on the ledge below their roost.

She looked around for anything that might've changed from the night before but like every night nothing was different. Aside from that, her father lost himself in his thoughts once more as he did like every other evening.

Memento knew that he should've taught his little girl how to fly by now as for the fact all of the newborns were flying right now but his own daughter. It only took a newborn a couple of weeks to understand the concept of flight but it had seemed like Cama Zots had other plans in mind for the Mori family.

"Kage," Her father called softly to her. "Maybe we should try jumping onto a short ledge to try and give your wings a little bit of practice…" He then trailed off as he saw her sad gaze. Slowly, he began to nuzzle her to try and get her to cheer up but he was soon stopped when she pulled away from her father.

"Oi," He murmured. "I'm just trying to help. Either way, you need to learn how to fly, Kage. If you don't learn how to fly how can you come to call yourself a bat or even the princess of this colony? What will you do when it's time for you to take up a mate of your own? He'll be able to fly and you will not be able to since you're so stubborn that you won't listen to me".

She sighed, "You know I am… I… I am afraid of heights and flying, father. Please stop trying to get me to do something like practice for flight".

Memento scoffed slightly, "Saying you are afraid of heights and flying when you are a bat is…well is just plain ridiculous. For Cama Zots' sake, you are a bat and a royal bat at that, therefore you must get over this so called fear in time. I know it might scare you and I know you might not get over it now but eventually you must have to learn to fly".

He watched as his little girl turned away from him and squeaked in fear as she looked down from the ledge. "Stop scaring yourself and get over here, young one". He groaned at seeing her make yet another example that she was truly scared.

As soon as Kage went back into her father's arms, three figures came flying towards the roosting area of the royals' like they usually would. One of them was Hogs, the colony's main healing bat, whereas the other one was Looker, Memento's closest advisor. The littlest one was Kage's only friend that was part of her generation of bats, Hogs' own daughter named Lotus. A small grayish bat but was good enough with her breeding to be a princess' friend.

The king moved his daughter to the side as the two adult bats approached him and motioned for her to talk with Lotus away from where the adults would speak with each other.

Once far enough from the elders, Kage wished to be over there and listen in on their conversation just as for the fact she wasn't able to hear what they were talking about. Lotus flew over her head and noticed her friend's desire to snoop in on the sentences that the three males now swapped back and forth.

"Hey," She called to the princess.

"Oh, hey," Kage squeaked out as she jumped at Lotus' words and then recalled the last topic they spoke of. "Did your father ever take you out hunting? You did after all ask him like a hundred times yesterday".

Her grey friend only smirked and then said, "It was amazing! The world outside the caverns is so much bigger and filled with so much food! I mean I've never such gigantic things before in my whole life, but there where these huge plants called trees. Then my daddy told me that's where other bats of our colony roost! Although, I'm not sure why, I mean cave walls seem much more comfortable than rough bark that's on trees! Then I saw these weird things called mushrooms, and dad didn't let me eat one because apparently the mushrooms around here are deadly to us bats"!

Kage smiled for Lotus' happiness but also began to frown as she heard more about the world outside. She was told about the little animals that roamed in silence and the huge beasts that growled and prowled when dusk came around the hour. However, it was only when her friend described how beautiful the full moon looked that night, and Kage could only imagine how much of the sky the moon could've taken up.

Slowly the princess exhaled and sighed, "I wish my father would take me to see the world beyond this boring cave. I mean I'm not ungrateful for being royal or anything like that, but I just want to take a peek at the unknown"! She smiled happily.

"Yeah," Lotus laughed. "To fly throughout the midnight sky is-" The grey bat then stopped in the middle of her sentence as she recalled Kage's fear of flight. "B-But the bugs that hit your face are nasty! Better to stay on the ground if you don't want to get guts all over your face"! She tried to cover up her old words.

Tiny droplets of water could be heard falling from the ceiling as silence swooped around the two, young bats. Each second pasted slower than the last one as the princess glanced back at the elders as if they were the only interesting thing in the roosting area.

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The entire time the girls were talking about the unknown, Looker was speaking with Memento about the well known. The well known threats to the colony anyway.

"Sire," He explained. "I've heard word from other bats and even beasts have spoke of owls coming after our kind and trying to "put" us in our place. Those birds wish to eliminate us from our own land that we have lived on for countless generations and no one is ready to stand by and watch as they come to kill our people. I would like to propose a war meeting with the other members of the Elder Council to discuss the rest of the matters that pose a threat to us, sir".

Memento glanced over at his little girl and then back at the advisor. "You may have a meeting but you must count me out as for the fact I have other matters to attend to these days and-" He was then cut off by the wave of Looker's wing.

"For the sake of Cama Zots"! He screeched in anger. "Sire, we are need of your word on this topic and you can't just go ahead and place your heir before all of our people! You are the king of thousands of bats across the land, but if you are saying that you'd rather kick us to the side and care for your daughter- who should be able to fly by now- I'd say dirt be thy name"!

"Looker hold your tongue"! Hogs snapped at the advisor. "Our king and princess are just victims of heartbreak and they are simply denied good fortune by that of the lord of all bats"!

Both grew silent as they awaited the next words to come from their leader and king.

Memento still felt like his queen was dying and there was still nothing he could do but hold onto their little newborn. His ears even held the soft sound of blood drops hitting the floor even to this day, and if anything he was just sorry that he couldn't stop the bleeding.

Throughout the endless silence, one of the bats before him said his late mate's name and he let loose a silent screech to help his mind through a slight mourning so that he wouldn't start to mourn again. Alas, even simple words being spoken by another bat caused him slight pain and made him wince when they were the words that held their topic near that of the queen.

Given another handful of silent seconds, Memento collected himself once more and looked back at the two male bats before him. "We shall hold a war meeting but not for too long. Bring all the elders from across the land here and we shall speak about the owl matters then". He stated.

Looked smirked slightly, "Very good decision, sir, but it will take at least a few days for all the elders to reach Barking Skull Point".

Hogs scoffed, "It doesn't matter how long it takes as long as they get here on time, but they won't get here on time if you don't hurry along and spread the word to the reaches of our colony"!

Both bats sneered at each other with mild hatred for each other's choices of words being used before the two of them were dismissed by the king. When Memento looked back to see his little girl still standing there, he instantly noticed that he was watching the girls watching them.

"Lotus, Kage come here at once". Memento ordered them. "Lotus, you are to return to your own roosting site without your father and I hope that you can manage on your own or can you not"?

"Yes," She spoke quickly. "I can fly on my own, sire".

"Then leave us already, newborn grey"! Memento snapped at her like she still was not understanding what he meant by his words.

"Bye," Kage mumbled as she saw her friend leave even though Lotus did not catch what she said to her. Kage then turned to her father and scowled at him. "You could've been nicer when you said that to her, but then again, you could be nicer when you talk to other bats"!

Memento frowned slightly, "Kage…come now my little one, you know I only snap in order to put people in their place within this colony. As if I'd really just stop being caring the way I care now and just thrash out at pestering subject".

"She's my only friend"! Kage snapped back at her father. "I mean come on, father! It's not like you ever let me leave the roost or anything fun like seeing the midnight sky! I heard it's filled with stars with one huge moon right in the center of it all, but you won't take me outside to go see it"!

"Where did you hear about the moon and the stars"!? Memento barked at her. "Answer me, Kage"!

"Heh, like I would tell you something that would allow someone else to get into a huge amount of trouble"! She somewhat smirked and somewhat hissed. She was then cut off by her father's wings wrapping around her and completed silenced as he grumbled to himself over how he nearly began to fight with his newborn.

"Damn it all to Zots…" He silently hissed to himself. "Why can't you stay pure and gentle for all eternity"?

He shook his head and opened up his wings slightly. Within the folds of his wings, Kage had calmed down enough to realize fighting wouldn't help them one bit. Knowing that she had that in mind, her father let her go and gently set her down.

Once freed from her father's grip, Kage walked towards the edge of the roost again and tried to look down. She did end up recoiling back against her elder after seeing the ground floor for only a brief second and seeing how far of a drop it really was.

He sighed, "Forget the mild fight we shared and come here little one". Then he took his daughter into his wings and slowly ran his claw through her white fur. "You're getting to be too much like myself. That's not bad but it means you will have a lot of arguments in the future, rather they be with me or someone else".

"Yeah, yeah," Kage smiled at her elder's words. "Maybe I'll be a stubborn leader like you or maybe even more stubborn, who knows"? She laughed a little bit.

The two smiled at her words and the older one relaxed as he knew he was still with his innocent little girl. They shared many more conversations and played multiple games that entertained newborns while Memento kept thinking of how far innocence would get his daughter.

Born into darkness, darkness could not tempt her heart, mind or soul, but how far would that go? The better question out of all of this was, who would tempt her into her own fate?

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**Till the next chapter of this here story, I bid you readers/reviewers a slight farewell. **

**Also, I plan to have the next chapter play into where the first chapter left off on so this whole story won't just be back-story.**

**Either way, until the next chapter.**


	4. Eternal Separation

**Continuation from the last chapter of this here story into the fourth chapter of this here story…**

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One memorable evening several figures came onto the land that was ruled over by Memento Mori and his colony. These looming creatures were the one kind of species that thought they alone were fit to rule the world, but they weren't here to take over some throne.

The oldest one smirked to herself as she took her first step past the boundary line that outlined the bats' territory. "It's been a few months since we've last searched this part of the forest. Maybe this time we'll find our bat". She chuckled darkly as she continued forward.

Three men followed behind her as she led the way through the fog and the males were carrying several nets, guns, and one giant cage. The youngest lad quickened his pace to catch up to the elder one as an owl swooped over their heads.

"What are we looking for out here"? He questioned her. "There's nothing out here but small bats".

Then a pair of flashing eyes instantly snapped back at the boy and made him recoil at the very sight of them. The old woman grabbed the young man by his shirt and looked him right in the eye. "Have you ever heard of something along the lines of the "White Shadow"? Her lips curled into an evil smile.

"W-White S-Shadow-w"? He stuttered out.

"Yes," The woman threw the boy to the ground and looked back into the foggy sky. "It lives here! Here of all places! I've seen it only two times in my life but I know for a fact that those two times were two different bats! One looked exactly like the other one and I remember that as for the fact they were both the same breed, regardless of the mother, and they were both albinos"!

"W-wait a second," He stated quickly. "Are you saying that there were two albino bats here that were like father and son? Albino genes don't work that way with animals since it's normally like a one out of one hundred thousand system"!

The elder female looked down upon the lad with an evil ambition held within her eyes. "What if I were to say that I believe that this one bat called "White Shadow" held a special gene within it that allowed for each one of its children to be albinos and then there children would be albinos and so on!? This bat has gotten away from me two times and this third time is my best shot since I now know its hiding place"!

"And where would that exactly be"? He asked her.

She threw her hand through the fog and then the fog began to clear up as it revealed that she was pointing to an enormous skull-like cave that had hundreds, if not thousands, of bats flying in and out every few seconds. "This is the place where it lives and where we will capture it! The bat that is that of the size of that a small dog but as white as a fresh patch of snow! It shall be mine"!

Moonlight traveled across the heads of these creatures of both night and day as they prepared for their prey to step out of the comfort of dusk and into the danger of dawn. They began to wait, these humans.

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**Kage's Point Of View:**

After seeing dream after dream I yawned and opened my eyes a little bit, I was still feeling somewhat sleepy knowing that the sun was nearly set when I awoke. I sighed at this and snuggle even closer to the source surrounding me. I never felt so warm and comfortable while being covered with my father's wings. I smiled a little and ran my finger through some mane. My eyes started to adjust and saw him softly snoring and showing his sharp teeth a little.

"Father," I whispered. "It is nearly dusk right now. We should've been fully awake about half an hour ago". Then I crawled up to his ear and pulled it a couple of times before he finally groaned in his sleep and woke up.

"Kage…" Father yawned slightly. "…When I sleep this late it means I'm very tired and I need sleep…" He only licked over my fur a couple of times before he slowly began to fall back to sleep.

"But father-" I began to say but was silenced by his wings wrapping around me even more.

He slowly leaned back and proceeded to fall back to sleep when Hogs came flying into our roosting chamber. "M-My king"! Hogs squeaked out like normal. "The others are here already! Why are you still sleeping"!?

"What the hell are you talking about, you pest"!? Father groaned as he became very annoyed. "Who's here that they're so important that they need my attention"!?

"The separate colony leaders". I said as I popped my head out of father's wing folds.

Hogs nodded, "Yes that is correct, princess. However, this is an adult talk so please see to your own business". He more or less snapped at me.

"Yes," Father agreed like he didn't care that I got barked at. "You should leave the two of us to talk over this matter. None of this is any of your concern, little one. Now I'll let you go to get a drink of water from Stream Cavern that is right below us, but only if you promise not to run anywhere else and you stay there until I come and get you".

He nuzzled me gently and I nuzzled back. "Alright father, but can you tell me what you guys were talking about afterwards"? I asked him.

"Princess Kage," Hogs said like I was ticking him off or something. "If you would please now take your leave"? He seemed to snap.

I scoffed at being snapped at and slowly crawled my way out of father's wings and onto the ceiling. Leaving the two of them to discuss the leaders' well being, I carefully crawled down to the floor and walked from the roosting chamber into the far reaches of royal caverns of Barking Skull Cave that led to the lower caverns.

"Tch," I hissed. "Why do I get left out of everything having to do with this kingdom?! I'm going to be running this place one day and its colony so why the hell must I be told to back off by the likes of Hogs, Looker, and my own father!? Hell, even Lotus sometimes"!

Step after step, I kicked extremely tiny pebbles around on the floor and when I came to the entrance of the stream I stopped as I saw the number of bats hanging around there. Truly I hadn't realized the actual number of bats that I would be ruling over one day and I was just looking over like twenty of them. Then again this is what I should feel after being exposed to really no other bats but the ones that I was allowed to be seen by.

Soon enough the bats flew off into the darkness of the cave and I was about to go get a drink when I stopped at the sight of the leaders and my father. "Whoa…" I gasped at the sight of such big bats beside my giant of a father.

They were all different colored bats lined up around my father and none of them made eye contact with him. However, compared to my father the leaders were still tiny and normal bats were just extremely small, but being a runt I was just laughably short beside my father.

"Explains one reason why he didn't want me to talk about the meeting or even go to the meeting". I silently sighed. "I would've embarrassed him and myself and that would have brought shame to our family". I whined as I thought about how other bats would react to seeing someone like myself.

For the longest of times, my father tried not to think of me as a runt compared to other newborns but he hadn't doubted such a fact for several weeks now. Maybe I'd actually grow as I aged but that's just what father told me to cheer me up when I felt depressed about being shorter than the rest of my newborn generation.

As my mind came back to reality it made me notice the leaders and father vanished into the shadows of another open cavern. Once they entered the entrance was sealed off by the bats on the inside of that room so that no one could enter it afterwards.

Where did that leave me?

"What the hell"!? I hissed quietly. "Am I really just supposed to stay here for Zots knows how long while they go on about whatever without me!? This is absurd"!

For a little while I let anger and rage control my emotions until the point I was driven out of the Stream Cavern and walked around in no certain direction without any care where I ended up or with who. The rage was really just trying to rip me apart but I wasn't going to let it fully get to me.

I didn't hate father for any of this but it was enough stress stack up upon another stress pile and on another one that really just made me feel like an enraged flame.

"Why the hell am I a ghost in this colony anyway"!? I screeched as I punched the wall. "I mean I'm kept away from everyone else and I'm barely allowed to meet with Lotus half of the time!? For Zots' sake, I know I'm different because I'm an albino but why keep me hidden all the damn freaking time"!?

Given about an hour, I sighed and had enough ranting as for the time being. I slouched down against a rock and then noticed that I was actually at the entrance to Barking Skull Cave, and I knew it was the entrance since I recalled the many memories of father describing this whole place inside and out.

"Dammit…" I slightly smirked. "How far did I walk? I mean damn…" I sighed and then gasped as I remembered the meeting. "Oh shit father's going to kill me if his meeting has let out by now! That is if his meeting has let out by now". I somewhat sighed in relief since I knew how long those meeting could go for.

Be that as it may, I then looked over at the entrance and saw how everyone seemed to flee from the entrance to Barking Skull Cave or flying into the caverns. _Maybe some big bear or some wolf is lurking nearby. _I thought to myself before I leaned over and instantly felt fear stab right through my body and even my shadow as I gasped at the very sight of such tall and scary creatures.

Without a doubt in my mind, I tried to remember those stories and tall-tales about these things since their name was in there somewhere. "Hughes"? I questioned myself. "Hugh-man… No, no, I think it's-" I then shut up as one of their giant paws landed right beside of me and nearly squashed me into the ground.

"HUMANS"! I screeched in utter terror. "FATHER! THERE ARE HUMANS HERE! FATHER"!

One of the humans looked down upon me with a creepy smirk and went to grab me when I noticed the leaders of the separate colonies trying to attack the other three humans that were with the one that was trying to grab me.

"Argh"! The youngest of the bunch yelped out. "Dammit their bites sting like hell"!

"Suck it up you big baby"! The one before me scolded him. "I have the newest "White Shadow" before me and I know its father has to be around here- There"! She then pointed to her side where I saw blurs of giant white wings speeding in our direction.

_Father! _I thought to myself as I noticed one of the humans pulling out a weird thing that had a bunch of strings inside of it. "Wait that's going to-"

Then I began put the puzzle together and knew it was a trap. "Father-" I gasped. "NO"! Before I knew what I was even doing I threw myself off of the ground and in front of father. Then I heard a click before I felt the strings wrap around my body and I was suddenly thrown to the floor. _What the hell was I not thinking!?_ I thought as my head slammed down on a pebble.

I let loose a screech of fear and pain before I quickly began to struggle within the weird trap. "FATHER! HELP ME, FATHER"! I cried out as the human picked me off of the floor. She then started to unravel the strings and she threw me into a cage.

"NO"! Father hissed as he tried to bite the fleeing humans. "NOT MY DAUGHTER! NOT MY LITTLE GIRL"!

"You morons"! The older human scolded the other three. "We need the little one intact! Come on! We'll come back for the father at a later time"!

"KAGE"! Father roared as the humans threw a small rock on the floor and the whole room lit up like daytime.

The human said something about a flash and something about a thing called a grenade but I didn't know what in the world they were talking about. I was really just having trouble as I slid around in this cage the human put me in since I was sliding around in it and I couldn't get out.

With the cave fading into the thick fog, I began to feel tears running down my face as I saw father flying as fast as he could to try and reach me. His vision was blurry and he could've been killed by these humans at any second if they wanted to kill him.

"FATHER"! I cried out to him. "PLEASE YOU'VE GOT TO COME SAVE ME! PLEASE"!

However, he nearly caught up to us but the humans reached this rather large beast that had four rock looking things underneath it. Lights flashed out of its eyes as they threw me into the back of the thing. I instantly locked eyes with my father as I tried to call out for him one last time but the human covered the cage with a white cloth and I could no longer see or hear him.

"No, no, no, no, no," I started to sob. "Father…"! I laid my head down on the rough metal of the cage and cried.

The weird beast felt like it was flying across the terrain with ease as I knew that its speed were beyond my father's fastest speeds. As much as I wanted him to save me from these humans and take me back to roost, I knew it'd be worse if he did catch up. These humans would just probably place him in a different cage, and then who would lead the colony when the king was stolen as well.

No matter how much I wished that none of this was happening to me, I just continued to cry over the fact that it was happening. Then I gasped as my mind began to think of what was going to happen next. What did these creatures want from me? And why?

* * *

**Two nights later…**

The world seemed to be blacker than night at the time being. My current location: Completely Unknown. Even my hope of being free once more is no starting to flee into the darkness of my nightmares, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

It now seemed like forever since these humans brought me back to their cave that was placed beside several caves just like it and each one was a different size as each one seemed to go higher and higher into the sky. Once they brought me into their cave, they quickly placed me in one of their cavern rooms. The room had a clear view of the room next door and it showed dozens of bats flying about and hunting freely in what seemed to be a forest, but I wasn't placed with other bats why? Apparently I was way too different to be in an open room with others and remained alone, but that's just what first came to my mind. And of course I was still stuck in the cage they placed me into, but they came in during the night and day and held something in their hands that nearly blinded me. I believe they called it a camera but like hell I cared what they called it.

Be that as it may, these humans haven't done much to me in the time I've been trapped with them but I think that may change soon enough. For instance, last day I heard one of the males talking to the old female about a thing called a collar and something else named a tracker.

However, I just ignored them after that and remained in the corner of my rather large cage. One reason I hated it was because no warmth came to me in this thing and the second reason was that it made me doubt that I would get anywhere while stuck in here. That was until I saw the old female walk into the room at the time being with a weird looking object in her hand.

She smirked, "Relax now, Blizzard. I'm just going to give you a little medicine that's just going to make you fall asleep for a little while; it won't kill you".

Oh yeah, these humans have been calling me Blizzard ever since they first got me here and I've hated that name ever since.

I scowled, "Get the hell away from me, you piece of beast shit"! I hissed at her. "I hope that Cama Zots comes out from the Underworld and eats your heart out after tearing it from your worthless body"!

I knew it was useless to yell at humans after being stuck here for a few nights but I still yelled anyway. It was weird how I could understand them but they couldn't even read my lips; such unusual animals.

Even so, I cried out in fear as the female stuck me with a sharp object that she said was a needle. After she pulled it out of me, I went to claw her since I had a perfect shot of ripping some skin off, but whatever she stuck me with started to take effect and made me drowsy as hell. Eventually I fell victim to whatever went inside of me and I swear I saw a purple ring swoop down upon my neck. Heh, how delusional to think such a thought, but I just watched as darkness engulfed my sight after that and then nothing. Nothing but sleep anyway.

* * *

**One Week Later…**

My head ached as I started to regain conscious and as I moved my claw over the cage floor I instantly found out that I was touching a different texture other than the cage. I quickly opened my eyes and found myself in a brown and black hollowed out space within one of those things called a tree that Lotus used to tell me about. It was true about what she said about the leaves and the tough bark, but what scared me the most when she was talking about then was their actual height.

Once I glanced out of the hollow and saw the ground floor of a forest, I instantly recoiled to the back of the hollow and tried not to gasp in fear. "W-What in the name of Cama Zots"!? I panicked slightly. "Where am I?! Why the hell didn't those humans place me back in my forest"!? I questioned as I quickly found out that none of these trees and plants were any that Lotus and father used to describe to me. "Why in the name of hell did those damn humans put me in a tree"!?

It took me a little while but I finally managed to calm down and find out several things. One, I was finally away from those damn humans. Two, I wasn't going to be able to fly down from this tree they put me in. Three, they seemed to have placed something around my neck.

Without much thought I looked down at the object and found out that they put a purple ring around my throat. I didn't even have to try to pull it off to know that it wasn't going to come off anytime soon, but why the hell did they do this to me!?

"T-These humans…"! I growled. "When I get my claws on them for what they have done to my father and I- I'LL KILL THEM"! I roared out loud now releasing all the anger and frustration that was held within my heart and mind.

The next second everything became very quiet and I quickly became very afraid as I knew that I might have alerted some predators that I was alive and certainly here. I held my breath as I started to try and imagine what was friend or foe around this forest. Shaking my head after thinking of some giant beast popping out of nowhere began to scare the crap out of me even though it was just a mere thought.

Multiple chirps and growls ran through the trees the next second and sent me dashing to the corner of the tree hollow. I suddenly started to gasp for air, "W-Where… the hell… am I, father"? My voice pleaded as it fell silent compared to the loud roars and sharp hisses of this new forest land.

It remained that way for three days, me constantly kept in fear by the new outside world and the height of the tree. What began to drive me to the point of total starvation and dehydration was the fact that I was too afraid to climb down from the hollow for both reasons of my fear. I tried to keep my mind occupied by imaging what father would say when he came to rescue me. Maybe, "I was so worried about you," but who was I kidding? I knew he wasn't coming to save me from wherever I was and it'd be impossible for him to find me in one tree hollow out of an entire forest full of trees. Oh, but how I longed for some small bit of hope to keep my spirits alive.

Soon enough however, death came seeking me out and was slowly approaching me as I thought about how this was a very sad conclusion to my life.

I sobbed slightly and weakly, "A-At least I… will be put… out of my… misery now… But why such a… dull ending to…. my short life… Why…"? My ears then perked at the sound of beating wings and I knew that some predator that had finally found me by hearing my sharp crying.

"I need someone… right now… anyone please… just someone to… hear my dying words…" I whispered. "Or to help… me bare this misery…" I leaned my head back and after that I suddenly felt warm for the first time in days, and it was weird since I always thought death would be cold and not so soft.

Aside from the normal outside noises that I faintly heard, I heard two different voices talking with each other about something. Truth be told I didn't know what but I soon found my limp body being picked off of the tree hollow and felt something I've never felt before in my life. Wind.

Slowly and carefully I opened one eye to see the floor of the forest passing by so fast that if I blinked it would've seemed like a mile had already been traveled. Then I glanced upward to catch of glimpse of whatever held me as it flew and I nearly gasped as I saw another bat for the first time in what seemed forever. Before I even had time to see its face, my body recalled its fatigue and began to make me blackout once more.

_At least I know I wasn't alone in this forest… _I thought as I saw darkness completely enter my mind.

Various voices began to float around the air as I blacked-out as I faintly felt claws poking at me. However, these things would only concern me if I lived to see the next night, so until then I welcomed death but only if it would have me.

* * *

**Until the next chapter of this here story I bid you all readers/reviewers a short farewell. **

**The next chapter will hold Goth in it as promised to those who had questioned me about his appearance so do not fret.**

**So until the next chapter.**


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